John Gale… Hard to believe that existed when you see the size of the gap left there after the fire
Alan Esdaile… used to be packed in like sardines!
John Gale… so I hear, just a bit before my time
Jon McCallion… It’s where it all started Alan as you would remember, I remember Fiona she invited me for the band.
Linda McGregor… It was nothing like a discotheque when I used to go ’76-’79
all photos © Hastings Public Library
Ray Barry… Remember it well,a Merrydown cider and bottle Brown Ale 2/10d. Circa 1963/4
Patricia Burgess… Ray, OMG haven’t heard the name Merrydown for at least 45 years loved that cider. Is it still made.
Ray Barry… Patricia, No the brewery closed some few years ago and is now a housing estate in Horam
Tony Court-holmes… Ray, my mum june used to drink that in The Anchor back in the 60s
Paul Reed… Is that street still there today or did it disappear if thats st Clements church in photo.Did I hear that area suffered bomb damage as well.?
Lynda Whatley… yes that is St Clements Church and the area was suffered bomb damage – and the church suffered too . My mother and myself posed for the local artist – when the church window over the alter was commissioned .
Ray Barry… The street is still there but the pub has long gone and is now a house. A pub round the corner called The Swan got bombed during the Second World War.
Graham Mccallion… I remember those days
John Wilde… I lived in Hill street during the late 70s and it was long gone
Eric Harmer… I drunk in there with Tony Davies , he lived in the Croft. They had bar billiards in there
Jacqueline Marsh… I went to school just behind this pub
Monica Bane… My Wedding breakfast there In 1960!
Tony Court-holmes… drank in that pub
Tony Collins… Whether true or not but I did hear that at one side of the top window of the Church is a cannonball fired from an enemy ship and the other one is made or stone to balance it up. If you look carefully one is rusted and the other is grey. Can anyone confirm this?
Roger Simmonds… Tony, Yes there is a cannon ball in the wall!
Roger Simmonds… I also used to drink in there in 1964!
Janet Mournard Russell… Used to go there often.
Mick Barrow… The Kicking Donkey kicked the hole in the wall, i think Ron French was the landlord
Don Cropper… A group of us bikers used to drink there and play snooker and billiards in the middle to late 60’s
Cris Kennard… I had my wedding reception in the Hole in the Wall Sept 1968 when I married my first husband (Roger Barnett who died in 1983) Don do you remember.
Tony Collins… Had my 21st birthday party there, I am 76 now!!!
Ray Barry… That is what I was told as well Tony but I’m not 100% sure.
Chris Baker… Lived just round the corner in Cobourg Place! Steve and Ian Hersee and Monica Bane were immediate neighbours
Madeleine Thompson… Does anyone remember if they had a cellar there?
Kim Woodley… Ron French was my uncle. When our family visited during the weekend from London, he used to give me a pocket full of coins for the juke box which I used when the pub was closed in the afternoon. Great music! Stones, Beatles, the Who, Tremeloes, Hollies…..
Jim Breeds… Kim, Ron used to often play the Russ Conway on the juke box (after he took over the Jenny Lind), saying “Listen to that! His fingers never leave the keyboard!”. I was never quite sure what that meant!
Richard Burks… great nostalgia there!
Tony Court-holmes… had my 21st birthday party in there, my god that was a long time ago
photo © Anthony ‘Nan’ Morland
Phil Gill… Class outfitters
Martin Richter… all the army boots you could eat
Glenn Piper… veritable Aladdins cave of curiosity’s and lots of boots & great coats
Lucy Pappas… Bought my very wide leg sailor trousers from there! Loved Malcolm Mitchell x
Phil Gill… Lucy, You could have washed them before you turned up at the youth club wearing them though.
Lucy Pappas… Phil, I apologise for the fishy smell. Thinking about it, that would have been when we first become friends, 50+ years ago….
Phil Gill… I didn’t mind fishy, it was the beer stains from some Norwegian sailor’s night out.
Bruce Zebedee… Great shop
Colin Wells… Malcs bootique!!
Pete Blomfield… Datsun 100a or 120y?
Jeff McCall… Great shop, bought a purple parker from there, it had a bullet hole in it!
Gerry Fortsch… I remember that they sold every thing so one day I asked for a torpedo and they came up with one.
Fred Marsh… I wonder what some of our dfls would have made of it
Lloyd Johnson… Fred, Hastings is my home town.I moved to London in 1966 I went Ore youth Club with Patrick Mitchell who’s uncle owned MM .I opened my own shop/stall in 1967 in Kensington market a year later.In 1973 I was buying similar items that we’re sold in Malcolm Mitchell’s the High st,Baldocks and Winters shoe shop in George st.,Cyril Savages in Kings Road and Apps shoe shop in Silverhill by that time the stock I remembered from the early 60s was considered vintage clothing. I remember. buying an amazing W11 leather dispatch riders jacket from MM which I wore during my Art school days at The Brassey Institute above the Library in 1961/62…I guess you could say in some ways all those shops including MM were a great inspiration for me during my time. in the clothing business as was the whole teenage experience of growing up in Hastings with The Pamdor, Fiesta ,the trad jazz at the caves and the groups on The Pier. I think it is nice to see some new small innovative businesses bring some style to the town. The DFLs’ as you seem to call the creatives from London that have chosen Hastings to make their home. Several friends from London have moved to Hastings and St.Leonard’s and I think they contribute extra style and entertainment to the Town…..
Mark Syrett… Top shop
Mike Waghorne… Top clothe’s shop in the late 60’s Malcom’s boutique we used to call it !
John Mcewen… Best work boots ever!
Dave Nattress… Even us Bexhill boys knew Malcolm’s Boutique, always on the tourist may with the Trading Post
Jim Breeds… April 2021 view (Google Streetview)
Alan Esdaile… Jim, hasn’t got the same smell as the original photo!
photo © Berni Newcombe
Photo: Peter John Morris. British Roadscene https://www.facebook.com/groups/496289463761461
Peter John Morris… Hastings in Trolleybus days
Chris Meachen… I remember buses coming the other way having to mount the pavement. Almost hard to believe that this was a 2 way street, & the main road through the old town..
Tony Court-holmes… used to live at 103a
Linda Gowans… An elderly fisherman told me (in about 1960) that you should have seen the traffic jams with horse-drawn waggons in the High Street!
Steve Hamilton… 52a here! Vague recollection of buses and arguments on the road. Arguments still around today no doubt!
Mick O’Dowd… Its hard to think High Street was two-way. I know there were a lot of close calls but nothing too serious I recall!
Claire Lonsdale… And there’s my old house on the right. Lived there for 17 years.
Peter Ellingworth… Photo taken in 1955 I believe, possibly the same day as the Pump House one shown previously. The guy that took it has this on the Historical Hastings site with an explanation. Unfortunately I can’t quite see the TB reg no., or from my records I could see what happened to this particular TB after closure of the Hastings system in 1959. Am I correct for the TBuses, at least in latter years, there was a traffic light control system for one vehicle only at a time working at each end of the High Street automatically activated by passage of the buses themselves?
Mick Knight… John Pearson continues in the tradition of the early country blues players who are his inspiration. He has worked with many of the leading British and American exponents of this music including Alexis Korner, Davey Graham, Jo Ann Kelly, Bert Jansch, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Louisiana Red, Rory Gallagher, Big Moose Walker, Woody Mann, Wizz Jones, Cephas and Wiggins, and Roy Rogers and his Delta Rhythm Kings. John Pearson is not a stranger to Hastings music scene having performed here over many years. He will be joined by his harmonica partner for many of those gigs Jem Turpin. Don’t miss this totally acoustic evening, come on down to the Jenny and join us.
Alan Esdaile… I can smell Disque Bleu by just looking at the photo! Well I think that’s what I can smell?
Martyn Baker… Owned by Guy?
Peter Thomson… Is that a cheese?
Patricia Wapshott… I remember that place but can’t remember who ran it , think he was called Guy and his flat above was so cool , he had a sunken bed and a vast record collection , my friend Camille was seeing him and that’s how I got to see the flat . We sat and listened to David Bowie albums while he smoked a joint and I must have been about 15 then and didn’t even know what a joint was ! I just remember that it smelt disgusting and politely said no when he offered it to me that was also smelt incense sticks burning . The innocence of my youth !
Gin Genie… Guy still drinks in the Nelson on a Monday night playing shove
Will Hadfield… I think this is where people hung out in a disco downstairs owned by a bloke called guy or max
Pete Brazier… Didn’t it become the cheese emporium? Probably the Swiss blue what you thought you could smell lol
Chris Baker… Played downstairs a few times. Usually with our electrics swimming in the mix of beer and “toilet water” and getting shocks off the Mike’s and my guitar! Health & Safety? What’s that?
Jim Hobbs…. How about old beer and cigarettes.
Angela Frances Gardner… When Chico had the Jamaican restaurant on the ground floor selling ackee and salt fish
Martin Richter… disque bleu ? you crazy beatniks
Andy Qunta… Fond memories of this place!
John McCallion… I remember it well Alan, .It’s where I auditioned with Steve D, Paul Dove and Paul Wiseman to form Muller
John Busbridge… Disco was downstairs, used to go there!
Jemma Yasmin… What a lovely building I never knew what was here it’s been a building site as long as I can remember …. do you know when and why it burnt down? With the downstairs of Fagins and this what an amazing place the old town would have been at this time?
The wake for Barry Taylor will be held on Saturday 17th June 2023 at Porters, 56 High Street, Hastings. 2pm til 5pm. All Barry’s friends and anyone who knew Barry, is most welcome to come along and share fond memories.